Dan Miragliotta contends that most of the shots that hit Patrick Cote just prior to a stoppage against Alessio Sakara were legal blows.

Three weren’t, however, and the longtime referee said he issued two verbal warnings before the third blow knocked Cote out and forced his intervention.

“As long as hand makes contact with the ear, it’s a legal strike,” Miragliotta told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “If you miss the ear and only hit the back of the head, it’s illegal.”

Cote was ruled the winner by disqualification following the 86-second fight, which served on the FX-televised portion of UFC 154 at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

There was immediate outcry in the arena when replays of the stoppage showed Cote taking several hammerfists to the back of the head before falling limp to the canvas. Sakara apologized to a hostile crowd afterward and said the illegal strikes weren’t intentional.

Moments earlier, Cote had wobbled Sakara with punches, but took an elbow that sent him tumbling to the mat.

UFC President Dana White afterward called Miragliotta’s call “a horrible job” and counted seven to nine illegal punches to the back of the head.

“He was just standing there watching it,” White said. “Didn’t jump in, didn’t do anything. I think it should have been a no contest, not awarded to Cote, but a no contest.”

Regardless, he targeted a rematch for the middleweights.

Miragliotta said a rule forbidding blows to the back of the head was superseded in Cote’s case because most of the hammerfists touched his ear. The referee said he advises all fighters of this distinction in rules meetings prior to fights.

“Even though most of your hand is hitting the back of the head, if your pinkie knuckle is hitting him in the ear, it’s a legal shot,” said Miragliotta. “Maybe that’s what people don’t understand. They said, ‘Oh, it’s the back of the head.’ It is the back of the head, but it’s hitting him in the ear.

“You get a guy like Shane Carwin or Brock Lesnar, their hands are so big, when they hit you in the ear, they’re still hitting the mohawk. That whole hand is about five or six inches wide. The earlobe is two inches. So four inches of your hand is hitting that mohawk, and that’s considered a legal strike.”

The Unified Rules of MMA, which are followed by most major athletic commissions, state that head strikes that touch the ear are acceptable. Illegal, however, are those that solely hit an area that runs from the crown of the head to the top of the ears with a one-inch variance – the so-called “Mohawk” area – or the area from the top of the ears down to the nape of the neck. The rule was modified in 2009 to make a distinction between the “Mohawk” definition used by most commissions and a “headphone” definition used by the California State Athletic Commission.

Sakara’s manager, Lex McMahon, plans to appeal the decision and supported a rematch.

“I’ve watched the video, and yes, there are one or two punches that land in the back of the head in the heat of the moment, and that’s partly because Patrick was turning his head away to defend himself,” he said. “At no point did Dan warn Alessio. I asked the commission that and they said there was no verbal warning given. Dan did not separate the combatants, and he didn’t give Patrick the opportunity to regroup and continue on with the fight.”

Miragliotta, though, said he warned Sakara after a hammerfist grazed the back of the downed Cote’s head. The next two or three shots were legal. A second, more clearly illegal blow drew a more stern verbal warning.

“The second one didn’t look bad enough to stop the fight,” Miragliotta said. “In my mind, I’m thinking if he hits the back of the head again, I’m going to stop it and take a point away, or I’ll make it a verbal warning with his translator and let him know I’m going to take a point away.

“Then the next ones were clean. They were clean strikes, and the one that hit him hard was no longer a ‘watch the back of the head.’ It was time to either take points away or stop the fight.”

Cote, though, was in no condition to continue.

“When I rolled him over, he looked like he didn’t know where he was at,” Miragliotta said.

After stopping the bout, Miragliotta said he consulted the Quebec Athletic Commission on the foul and asked whether the result should be a no contest or a disqualification.

“They felt the DQ was OK being that they saw me warn him twice, and it happened so quickly, I just wasn’t able to stop it before the third one caused the damage that it did,” he said.

Immediately after the fight, UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner told MMAjunkie.com that Miragliotta watched the replay and, as allowed by the commission, changed his decision from a TKO win in favor of Sakara to a disqualification.

McMahon questioned the legality of such a move and said the commission altered the result.

“Miragliotta made a decision it was a TKO, and then [the commission] crossed it out – and never released that scorecard, which is not typical at all,” he said. “There was a reason why that occurred, and it’s very troubling that we’re in this situation.”

The Quebec Athletic Commission declined comment, citing the possible appeal. Miragliotta said he didn’t see the replay because he was speaking with the commission. He admitted, however, that he’d like to see the fight again.